Sailboats fair and fine# 50 : read older posts first

Just want to thank everyone for being patient and I should be posting regular again. I still can't post with Linux to blogger as I had hopped I'd be able to do. I would really like to stay off line with the computer I am doing video with.

Doug

Dec.1,Monday Georgenes Log

We were up early and had breakfast before we got underway. We waited until 8 A.M. To get some fuel at the marina across from us. We tied up at the fuel dock at the Anchorage Yacht Basin right across from the big dragon on the point. A man in the boat across the dock from us gave us a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs. The dock master let us stay at the dock long enough to let us stay at the grocery store about a block away.

We managed to get to the Esau Gollie ( Oh Golly )bridge just in time for it's opening at 9:15 and off we go- South on the Indian River again. The first stretch this morning was straight down the middle of this beautiful river. Just before noon the channel started to have a few zig zags because of the many little islands. We passed through the Pelican Island Wildlife Refuge and saw the tiny Pelican Island a mile or so away from the channel with dozens and dozens of Pelicans and lots of other birds watching us go buy. It has really been a beautiful day. We found another nice anchorage just off the waterway behind a little island at mile 945. We stopped around 4 P.M. And both took a short nap. I washed my hair and started supper and Doug took the dingy for a little sight seeing tour.

Having sailed most of the day and only having run the engine about 30 minutes I thought I had better check the battery charge. Sure enough it was down pretty good. We ran the engine another hour. We had run enough to bring the house battery up. But not the starting battery. With days now shorter some reading lights were nice in the evenings. Having it to do over again I would have put a larger alternator on Wolf trap as the one that came on the engine was only 15 amp. When we got to Ft Lauderdale . I run up on a fellow who had a nice 30 amp alternator that he was replacing with a 100 amp and really fancy charging system. I gave him $10.00 It had a bad diode in it and I got one for $15.00 and put it on the little Yanmar. I could detect a little slowdown for about twenty minutes if the batteries were down some but as the alternator load lightened Wolftrap was back up to speed again. There is no end to this more and more electricity thing I would have been just as happy had I stuck with the 15 amp alternator. It jut meant running under power a little longer. I do believe that when charging batteries at anchor the heavier load on the engine from a bigger alternator is better for the engine as long as you never charge batteries under about 1600 RPM's. For a fellow who builds his own stuff It's not a hard thing to but a small refrigerator on board run off a small rotary automotive air conditioner compressor. If you have to run the engine to charge batteries you may as well run a small refrigerator. Even the little 8 hp Yanmar will pull a thirty amp alternator and refrigerator while anchored. You can't run both while motoring If the little refrigerator is really well insulated say 6 inches you don't have to run it but about twice a week for one hour in hot summer time. Unless you are going to live aboard for long periods. I used in our sailboat Kate, the refrigerant that they sell in the automotive stores.

Us men are mostly fools. We take a girl off sailing who has been used to all the modern convinces and expect her to cook, serve meals and a few other jobs in blissful happiness with a kerosene stove that is contrary. No refrigeration, hardly any electricity minimal heat and not even a decent mirror to put her makeup on. You and I can't saw out a new hatch board without an eclectic jigsaw a couple of Rather manly wood planes, chisels

WE can't even read a chart without a chart table. No frilly curtains no flowery bedspreads. Except for one rather large problem we should take only men sailing.